Vancouver Op-Ed

It's Friday June the 18 around 12:17PM and

Avis Tried Harder

I love rules, well mostly. This is the Avis Advertising philosophy from back in the Bernback day. #4 and #5 are absolutely gobsmackingly brilliant. (via Michael Lebowitz)

It's Tuesday February the 9 around 9:58PM and

Why Didn't Telus think of this?

I'm not sure I even understand this. But Radio Shack, er, The Shack, has bears and eagles catching kind of not that cool phones and being all tough and rad. On second thought it is kind of amazing. Telus should have gone from cute to awesome years ago. Too late.

It's Wednesday January the 27 around 10:12PM and

ipad? They Really called it the iPad?

So Steve Jobs got us all worked up into a frenzy over a giant iPod Touch? Wait, you plug in a real keyboard and it is a laptop. I don't get it. I mean I got that Steve Jobs was all chilling out on his love seat rocking out to John Mayer and playing games, whispering sweet nothings in your ear, or whatever, but I don't get why I need this, and iPhone and a laptop? Here's 8 things that suck about the iPad. All in all, I might give Obama the edge today. Didn't see that coming before today.

PS: If I'd bought that stupid MacBook Air, I'd be soooo pissed right now.
PPS: Can't wait for the first dirtbag to bring one of these things into a meeting.

It's Sunday January the 17 around 8:59PM and

Why Celebtrities Need to Stop Using Twitter Now

Alex Blagg owns Danny Masterson who is sooooooo bummed about Haiti. "I knowwww, it's like uggghhhhh. Shut up and do something."

It's Sunday January the 10 around 7:59PM and

In Scout Magazine: Notes on the Vodkapocalypse

Check out my new article over at Scout Magazine on the long overdue Vokapocalypse. Special thanks to editor Andrew Morrison who took my latest cocktail napkin ramblings and helped turn them into something coherent.

"At my local government liquor distribution branch, there are currently sixty-nine types of vodka in stock. Sixty-nine, and that is just in the 750ml bottle variety. That’s enough to make Stalin spit off his moustache. One can get everything from cheap and blinding plonk to new and pricy brands that defy the liquor’s peasant rep, like the $68.99 bottle of U’luvka from Poland."

Read the full article and more at Scout Magazine.

It's Tuesday December the 8 around 8:03AM and

Fact: Polar Bears Actually Love Warm Weather

Look at how happy that polar bear is on the beach. He's so cute. And why wouldn't he be happy, he's with a girl in a bikini. Duh. Canary Island Tourism for the win! (Via Copyranter)

It's Friday July the 17 around 8:11AM and

Quote of the day: Information Wants to be free & Lou Grant

"The point of the book seems to be, I don't know, some baloney about "we should not fear free." I've only read reviews of the book but the point seems to be that if you give away stuff for free, it will lead inexorably to money-making opportunities.
I'm not sure how, but I believe that this is related to the idiotic argument made by web maniacs that everyone is entitled to everything free on the web. Why should all intellectual property be free? Um ... because ... um ... "information wants to be free"... or some such childish nonsense."

This is the Ad Contrarian on Chris Anderson's dumb book on free. So good. I hate free. It's a stupid concept. I love money and wish you would send me lots of it for reading this blog. So consider yourself lucky. But whatever. Here's a bonus of Lou Grant meeting Mary Richards for the first time. Need this on DVD!

It's Wednesday July the 8 around 7:47AM and

Here's to: Men who are idiots

The man who can’t visualize a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot. Indeed. (via Godbles)

It's Thursday May the 28 around 8:11PM and

The last entry was too f@#king kind...

Nothing, and I mean nothing, raises my ire like huge, fibreglass animals. I'm still recovering from the bear fiasco of several summers ago, and just as I feel my equilibrium returning I'm confronted with life-sized kitsch in the shape of a "majestic" bald eagle.

I get it, it's for charity, but seriously, I'm much more inclined to give money when it doesn't involve some kind of ridiculous metaphorical interpretation of "the Bald Eagle soaring through the skies of the West Coast". The Lions website promises me that this ill-conceived effort is a trilogy, and I can only hope that they mean it and these eagles will be the last time the city is overrun with multi-coloured beasts.

My sensibilities were so offended I couldn't even muster the energy to take a picture to share with the group.

It's Saturday May the 2 around 8:43AM and

Op Ed: Recylcling Failure

Can someone explain to me why recycling seems to be so difficult for some people?

It's not like I'm an environmentalist wacko or anything, but come on, every time I go to the brutal cement bunker my building has the recycling in, I'm floored by just how, well, awful people are. I think if dumping out your garbage is a more enjoyable experience and less hassle than recycling it that's what people will do. And they do.

Is it so hard to put your plastics together, glass together, and tins together. I mean if I can do it and all. Oh, and all that paper that is all mixed up, that's for paper. Neat huh? But I go in there an it's like people just take the closest bin and drop everything in there. On the other hand, I seriously wonder why can we just do that, just sort everything later - and just dump all recycling together. I'd bet more people would do it. I'd bet you'd triple the amount of recycling. More likely, and like anything if the experience was better, people might actually do it.

It's Thursday April the 30 around 8:27AM and

Hockey Fans + Twitter: Don't Cross the Streams!

Photo Credit: Miss604

Round 2 of the NHL Playoffs start tonight. The above is what happens when two things come together that, unlike chocolate and peanut butter, shouldn't. In the immortal words of Ghostbusters famed Dor peter Venkman, "'Scuse me Egon? You said crossing the streams was bad! " It's jersey wearing sports fans + twitter.

Good clean fun or pure evil? You be the judge.

It's Monday April the 27 around 9:06AM and

RIP: Pontiact 1926 - 2010

This recession is turning into good clean fun now. Pontiac is being shut down by GM. About time. And can GM just cut to the chase and shut Buick too (oh no, they're keeping this old man division open)?

They are still on the fence for the fate of Hummer, Saab (Honestly, Saab? Russel Crowe has a sweet old one in State of Play, but these cars are awful to look at) and the Saturn. Have some balls GM and shut these down. (CNN)

It's Friday April the 24 around 8:04AM and

Imagine if Vancouver Cabs We're Half This Fun

As if. This new Heineken spot, about not driving when you go out, is pretty groovy. The part when the cabbie is singing is particularly rad. I've seen maybe one or two Vancouver cabbies that even get off the phone from their telemarketing business or whatever the hell they talk about all day long. But I'm pretty sure none of them would be singing and turning up the tunes. Ever.

It's Saturday February the 28 around 7:55PM and

Reflections on the recesion

Recession? What recession? I observed a few non-scientific things yesterday.

1. The Red Door was actually interviewing someone for an open position.
2. People were actually in Willams and Sonoma. One man was asking about the $1600 pot and pan set. No, I didn't grab that $16 Chili starter set, the $14.50 pasta sauce, or the $8 vanilla extract.
3. Cab Driver on Broadway didn't actually pull over, he seemed to stop the car in the middle lane, on green. Bold. This hardly proves anything about the recession, but does prove that cab drivers here are nearly universally awful. He didn't say a single word. He just sort of grunted at us.
4. While we did drive Sleep Country to a pretty good bargain, they seemed to be selling a lot of beds.

It's Tuesday February the 17 around 9:58PM and

Quote of the day: Dubai Was A Bad Idea? Who Knew

If you thought I had schaedenfreud for housing in Yaletown, it is nothing compared to my feelings to Dubai. That place is the worst. Smashing Telly:

"Short of opening a Radio Shack in an Amish town, Dubai is the world’s worst business idea, and there isn’t even any oil. Imagine proposing to build Vegas in a place where sex and drugs and rock and roll are an anathema. This is effectively the proposition that created Dubai - it was a stupid idea before the crash, and now it is dangerous.
Dubai threatens to become an instant ruin, an emblematic hybrid of the worst of both the West and the Middle-East and a dangerous totem for those who would mistakenly interpret this as the de facto product of a secular driven culture."

It's Tuesday January the 6 around 7:42PM and

Quotes of the Day: Mac Stuff, Open Letters to Hamas, & More

Check out some of the best thoughts from around the internets today:

"Anyone see the new Mac stuff?More 3D maps in my videos! Finally." - Jimmy Fallon.

"Dear Hamas, (and most of the rest of the Arab world), What are you thinking? You cannot still be calling for the destruction of Israel. Seriously, it is not gonna happen. Let's just forget the infidelish, anti-Semitism of it all and concentrate on your Blagojevichian arrogance. Do you really think you can accomplish what the Germans could not? Germans? The people who built special camps dedicated to eradicating Jews from the face of the Earth. The master race who, for four straight years, killed every Jew that wasn't hidden by Oskar Schindler? You really think you can outdo the Germans?" - 23/6.

"Wow, this guy is a jerk. Here, in this exclusive CNN report on some old public-teevee food show in Chicago, we see that Barack Obama was being a fancy show-off even way back when he was a lowly state senator a few months ago. This restaurant-review episode never aired because Smooth Barry just shamed these poor slobs, who no longer had the will to talk, or even live." - Wonkette.

It's Saturday January the 3 around 6:19PM and

Quotes of the Day: Car Burning & Prediction Edition

"More than 280 people were detained and more than 1,000 cars torched during New Year celebrations across France, mostly in its troubled suburbs, the interior ministry said Thursday. Four police officials were slightly injured, according to the interior ministry, which said its security forces 'were of the unanimous view' that New Year's Eve was 'rather calm and without major incident.' The interior ministry had earlier said 445 vehicles were set on fire overnight, but later revised that figure to 1,147." - AFP.

"Rupert Murdoch. He dies in a freak yacht accident. Sumner Redstone, Padma Lakshmi, Barry Diller, David Geffen, Rachel Sklar, Hoobastank, and Shaquille O'Neill are also on board, but all survive. Foul play is suspected, and an investigation reminiscent of the board game Clue ensues. A rumor spreads that Murdoch's cryogenically frozen brain is in an Anaheim basement next to Walt Disney's frontal lobe and the Arc of the Covenant. Michael Wolff sells his next book, The Brain Eaters, for $10 million. 17 people buy it; 4 read it." Fimoculous's 36 predictions for 2009.

"In France there are, I think, less than one per cent of people who are too skinny. There are nearly 30 per cent of young people who are too fat. So let's take care of the zillions of the too fat before we talk about the percentage that's left." Karl Lagerfeld.

"God damn you, Marley & Me. God damn you straight to hell." Food Court Lunch.

It's Wednesday December the 31 around 2:16PM and

Happy New Year 2009!

See you next year! Party like its 2009.

It's Monday August the 11 around 11:22PM and

Quote of the day: On Olympic Style

"Not surprisingly, Britain, France and America dressed like rich dicks."

- Street Carnage in a post all about Opening Ceremony fashions.

It's Monday August the 11 around 10:42PM and

Red Alert: Vancouver Olympic Opening Ceremony Envy

Now that there has been a few days for the hype to die down, can we take a moment and just talk about how ridiculous the opening ceremony was for the 2008 Beijing Olympics? Did it blow your mind? So what does this mean for our little Olympic games?

1. Um. How can I say this delicately. You poor bastards. Whoever is leading/doing the opening ceremony to the 2010 Vancouver games should just quit now. You will be remembered forever as a complete failure. Just stop. Now. Unless this fireworks fiasco story is remembered. But really who cares if some of the fireworks were digitally enhanced. Its hopeless.

2. More Damning Evidence, The Opening Ceremony Budget breakdown: In Beijing: $100 million. Set for Vancouver, well we've budgeted $58 Million for all ceremonies. Thanks, China. Overachievers.

3. Seriously. We're doomed. Damn you Stupid technology.

4. The Birdsnest vs. BC Place. Wow, that seems like kind of ill-advised choice now doesn't it kids? Maybe it will be good, because we'll be able to keep the smog out. Oh, never mind.

5. Worst. Olympic. Stadium. Ever. Unless: We Hire Michael Bay, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, and possibly Nigel Lythgoe from So you think you can Dance and give them $200 million and you might have a chance. And of course, at the end, they simple blow BC Place sky high after a giant dance number. Better start sourcing like 5,000 drummers.

It's Tuesday August the 5 around 10:25PM and

Quote of the day: On Deleted Scenes

"Today should've been a deleted scene. Self-indulgent, cliché, didn't advance the plot at all, and no nudity. For completists only."

Joshua Green Allen.

It's Tuesday December the 26 around 10:52PM and

A Full Frontal Attack On Christmas

Self-righteous know it alls who said I was stupid to save all of my Christmas shopping until the last minute: 1.

Katherine:0.

So I decided to launch a full frontal attack on Christmas shopping this weekend and get it all done in a day. No list, no major plans, I went totally rogue. I thought I would get so caught up in the Christmas spirit that my day would be a completely Cinderella-esque and everything I needed would just kind of appear. Unfortunately, instead of helpful animal friends I had bitchy sales people and instead of a fairy godmother I had old ladies who kept getting in my way. By the end of shopping day 1 I had collapsed on a mall bench where I sat chewing the same piece of Christmas cookie over and over, trying to figure out where things had gone so terribly wrong.

By the end of day two I had started smoking again. Cinderella? Try Apocalypse Now. Looking back on the situation I see that it was mostly my fault, a result of very poor planning. However, as I sat in my daze on that very uncomfortable bench I came up with a few helpful suggestions that I think may help the general mall going public in the future:

Continue reading "A Full Frontal Attack On Christmas" »

It's Thursday December the 14 around 8:00AM and

Guest Blogger: Anthony's Excellent Russian Adventure Part IV

Yes, Comrades our own embedded Karl Pilkington reporter is still in St. Petersburg, Russia and we are pleased to bring you yet another one of his ravoli with sour cream fueled rants from the Mother Country for your reading pleasure.

"Seriously. If you ever want something to be way harder than it should be...do it in Russia.

They have ways of dismissing you when you ask for something, as if to say "no problem" and you're insulting me by your very presence. Of course, sure enough "no problem" means "big fucking problem" in English. It's like a 2 year old child lying and then getting caught...

The other day I watched as the Russian Special Forces got their tank stuck in the mud for 2 hours. For real. I know, I know...how did this crack team of gun nerds ever lose the cold war? At about 45min into this fiasco, everyone standing around became a bloody "getting a tank out of the mud" expert. They finally did what they should have done right away...got another tank to pull it out. But, they had to make it hard...and at least try to get it out with the Russian version of the "yaris"...because you never know.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger: Anthony's Excellent Russian Adventure Part IV" »

It's Wednesday December the 13 around 6:03AM and

Guest Blogger: Anthony's Excellent Russian Adventure Part III

Comrade Karl Pilkington, er, Anthony is still in St. Petersburg, Russia and we are pleased to bring you another one of his vodka soaked ramblings from the Mother Country for your reading pleasure. Well, except those of you who just don't seem to get this new series of amazing adventure posts. We can actually hear you writing the hate emails now. Spasiba!

'OK. So I was guilted into going to visit one of the largest collections of art in the world...St.Petersburg's very own "Hermitage".

First off, let me say the price of admission was very reasonable. It was 350 rubles to get in and another 100 if you wanted to take pictures. Now, 100 rubles are only about 4 bucks US. I would have paid 20 if I could've used my flash so I could see any of the pictures I took.

We had walked about 80 feet into the "winter palace", which smugness knows no bounds, before our translator...sorry, "interpreter", decided to stop us all and give us the entire tour.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger: Anthony's Excellent Russian Adventure Part III" »

It's Monday December the 11 around 7:45AM and

Guest Blogger: Anthony's Excellent Russian Adventure Part II

Our friend Anthony is currently in St. Petersburg, Russia and we are pleased to bring you his vodka soaked ramblings from the Mother Country for your morning reading pleasure.

"Into my second week in St.Petersburg, Russia. There is more backwards here than their alphabet. Today we shot some footage at this amazing military museum. It was full of tanks, guns, and missiles. Then I realized...most of these things were built to kill us. And Hitler. Well, one out of two ain't bad. There were school children running around and playing with some of the huge rocket launchers, which by the way were all pointed at "freedom".

At one point the army man who was watching us became extremely upset. With the help of a translator, and my "da" and "nyet" facial expressions, I understood why...

He did not like that we were shooting the older models of tanks. He thought we should be showing the newer and better capitalist killing machines. Then went into all of the specs...I lost him there. If someone’s giving me measurements they better be simple ones. 36-24-32 for example.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger: Anthony's Excellent Russian Adventure Part II" »

It's Tuesday August the 8 around 9:35AM and

If WWE Wrestling makes viewers more violent, then...

Reading the Metro this morning, because someone has to, I found an article about how WWE Wrestling makes Males and Females more prone to fight. That must mean that the following could be said:

* Men and Women that watch Sex and The City are more likely to dole out blow-job since watching the show for the first time.

* Women between the age of 15 and 19 are EVEN more likely to give a delivery guy a blow-job despite what he looks like now that they have seen Sex and the City and saw how cool blow-jobs are.

* People that watch the View are more likely to try and kill themselves five times a week instead of just once.

* Women that watch Martha Stewart are more often found doing jack-shit around the house because they are too busy watching these shows and not actually doing anything.

* The Coast Guard reports an increase in dead bodies in remote islands, apparently viewers of the show LOST are trying to re-create their favorite show, just without the mobile buffet and paramedics on hand.

* Viewers, like me, of Prison Break are more likely to try sodomy now, studies I have done suggest.

* 0% of Canadian Idol viewers actually exist, because no one watches that show.

I made all this stuff up and I am sure someone made up the WWE stats. Though I am not a regular viewer of wrestling I don't think it makes you more violent, maybe just more stupid.

It's Tuesday February the 7 around 9:19PM and

Van Blog Notes: Blogettes & Beavers

*Honestly I know this is like three days in a row of linking to Lainey, but when she's on, she's on. Oh and you don't want to cross her, at all. "Jason Lewis might be an airhead but he's loin-mashing material. And as you can see, it looks like he's totally smitten with Rosario Dawson. Thanks to Marcus in Sweden for the link. Love them as a couple, hate the bitch for getting to hit that every night."

*I knew it. I knew that was Jenny Good in the Georgia Straight story on Scarlett. Must not take bait. She's not fat people. Repeat. Not fat.

*Over at Miss 604, who is always fun by the way, there is all the pretty incredible Bell spots featuring the voice of Norm McDonald as part of the beaver duo Frank and Gordon.

*And it would seem Vancouver has no shortage of saucy blogettes. Susan Natalie joins the fray with her latest photo shoot.

*I'm probably going to get a nasty comment about this, but I can't resist. Here goes. Can we just come to terms with the fact that the guys from Trailer Park Boys are not "celebrities" The show was mildly funny, once. Maybe. If you're watching the Super Bowl in Surrey, you are not a celebrity me thinks.

*Vancouver Canucks Oped finds two hockey stories that don't have much to do with Vancouver. First let me temp you with the ESPN headline, "Gretzky's wife allegedly placed bets in gambling ring." So great. Then a post about the Sharks and the supposed "WORST. “NEW NHL” CONTRACT. POSSIBLE."

*You poor bastard. MP James Moore's last blog post: "A few words seared into my brain that I've been saying for about 2 weeks now: 'Mr. Harper will announce his cabinet on Monday. I have nothing more to say.'" And then, no cabinet post. Ouch! Now his site is down too. Stay with us Jimmy. [via Public Eye Online]

*Jumping Jimminy. Vanmega is on FIRE today. On some helpful tips to those watching Godiva's on Bravo - the annoying fake Yaletown restaurant show.

"Yaletown might be trendy, but it is not "exclusive". Rule of thumb: If a neighborhood is home to a Cactus Club restaurant, it's far from exclusive."
"Burnaby is not "just like living in Brooklyn" (they actually said this on the show!). Burnaby is a big suburb, with minimal arts and minimal culture. There is no equivalent to Williamsburg, and the Notorious BIG wouldn't want to call it home. Burnaby does, however, have a university on a mountain top that feels quasi-futuristic."

Mmmmm...that's good smackdown!

It's Sunday February the 5 around 10:00AM and

Vancouverite Op-Ed: The Cartoon War

The Danish and Norwegian embassies are burned in Syria Saturday. On Sunday the Danish embassy in Beirut is burned. They are burned over what seems to be just a bunch of cartoons. Welcome to The Cartoon War. It's like a Liberal party campaign ad, you can't make this stuff up, we're not allowed to make stuff up. Well, The Onion is, and did fairly convincingly back in 1997. And if you think that's obscure, editorials in America are saying things like "We are all Danes now". Wait, isn't Canada fighting with the Danes over Hans Island? Crap.

In short, The Mudville Gazette reports that about a year ago an author needed illustrations of Mohammed for his upcoming book. He couldn't find an illustrator that would do it. They were scared. So a newspaper then called for submissions, got them, and published 12 of them making a point about freedom of speech and all that. It was these cartoon versions of the prophet, that has now set off a fairly significant international incident. And the embassy burned count stands at three.

To start things off, let's go to Mark Steyn which is always a good call. Now, certainly if there is a writter capable of helping us understand what is happening in a smart and amusing way it is him.

I never thought I'd switch on the TV and see the excitable young lads jumping up and down in Jakarta, Lahore, Aden, Hebron, etc., etc., torching the flag of Denmark.
Denmark! Even if you were overcome with a sudden urge to burn the Danish flag, where do you get one in a hurry in Gaza? Well, OK, that's easy: the nearest European Union Humanitarian Aid and Intifada-Funding Branch Office. But where do you get one in an obscure town on the Punjabi plain on a Thursday afternoon? If I had a sudden yen to burn the Yemeni or Sudanese flag on my village green, I haven't a clue how I'd get hold of one in this part of New Hampshire.

Continue reading "Vancouverite Op-Ed: The Cartoon War" »

It's Sunday November the 20 around 2:56PM and

Opinions: "Shadows & Fog"

Whatever your opinion is of the current war in Iraq, and the Global War on Terror more generaly, one journalist is always worth reading. John F. Burns who has been working the Iraq beat for the New York Times since the war began has a very sober and interesting piece in today's paper entitled, "It's Still a Mystery".

Not only have American forces recently found a secret Interior Ministry torture center in Baghad, with it's 173 starving inmates, the word is that they are slowing uncovering a shadowy Shiite religious movement that has infiltrated the police and is responsible for this and other dangerous developments.

What is interesting about Burn's piece is just how realisitic it's assessment is. That unlike the current political debate in Washington over the war, he tells it like it is on the ground - including the good, the bad, and the ugly, which is refreshing. It's especially refreshing to read, since getting accurate news on Iraq is difficult at best. For instance, while talk of some sort of pull out reaches a boiled water pitch, Burns is reporting this:

"Compared to 18 months ago, the American grasp of the war's complex tribal, ethnic, political and religious hinterland has advanced considerably. Intelligence officers now talk assuredly about inter-tribal rivalries and links between Baathist financiers, Islamic militants and criminal gangs. They display "rogues' galleries" of insurgent cell leaders and where they operate."

Austin Bay - someone we read regularly and respect - has some great information on the disconect between reality and the news we watch or read and part of it is recognizing that there is a terrorist problem in Iraq. He points to an article today at Strategy Page by Jim Dunnigan breaking it down. "First, there is definitely a terrorism problem. Not an insurgency, not a guerilla war, not a resistance. A portion of the Sunni Arab population refuses to recognize the Sunni Arab loss of power in early 2003. They are supporting a campaign of terror to either get back power or, more pragmatically, to get immunity for most Sunni Arabs for crimes committed during Saddams decades in power."

And this translates into pretty positive news, suggesting that American commanders on the ground have now been able to broach the real crusp of the problem: coming to terms with who or what they are fighting. The reality is that more and more Iraqis, and therefore Americans, are coming to speak openly about who they are fighting. It's not just forces from without, but also from within, and Iraqis are increasinly uneasy but honest about the fact that thier own people are now bombing and killing them.

And while the death tolls mount, and pressure on America to pull out increases, there are things that the media, and the activists seem to completely leave out of the debate - which is completely frustrating. Newsweek for instance seems to have burried the real story of the situation in thier latest article on the situation.

"it's not entirely clear that U.S. policy has "failed." The TV news, not to mention Al-Jazeera, doesn't regularly summarize the stunning changes in Iraq, many of them morally and politically worthy. Saddam Hussein is gone and awaiting trial. Schools, hospitals and other institutions are operating in most parts of the country. Voters have adopted a constitution. And even many Sunnis are gathering in political parties that are maneuvering in advance of the Dec. 15 national elections. After the elections, the plan is that Coalition forces will use the growing number of capable Iraqi units to "clear, hold and build" a peaceful Iraq." (Via Riding Sun)

So like most subjects these days, a real and more complex debate should be taking place on this - we should be able to handle it. And yet we are completely bombarded with superficial and doomsday reports coming out of the region. What is most surprising is just how much some people want George Bush to fail so badly that it overides any thought or consideration for the long term consequences - and that is a shame whatever your position is on the war may be.

It's Saturday November the 19 around 10:41AM and

Loathing Your Own Generation

Every once in awhile, somebody writes something that makes you just smile. This morning that is Colby Cosh. "Nothing against the Accordion Guy, but his headline "Pillow Fight in Dundas Square This Sunday" suddenly made me loathe my own generation. Flash mobs, cuddle parties, neo-burlesque, robot pets, emo, speed dating, network gaming tournaments, live-action remakes of cartoons."

It's Wednesday November the 9 around 6:36PM and

The Politics of the Poppy

Darren Barefoot does an excellent job of debunking Clay McLeod's Tyee editorial on why he doesn't wear a poppy.

"Mr. McLeod, wearing the poppy isn’t about nationalism, it’s about remembering and honouring sacrifice," writes Barefoot. "Your Ghandi example is foolhardy, because while the sacrifice of the Jewish people was mighty, the sacrifice of voluntary soldiers who died was greater still. They went willingingly to the fight and their death, to win freedom for those who couldn’t."

But, as they say, just read the whole thing. I can't even believe that this kind of debate even happens in 2005.

It's Sunday November the 6 around 7:00PM and

What in the hell are they doing in Paris?

It's been 11 days of rioting and unrest in Paris. Just think about that sentence again for a minute. While we have had some labor unrest in the this city recently, with teachers refusing to work and Telus workers being perpetually locked out, it would be hard to believe that we could imagine what Parisians are doing now.

Well, not entirely inconcievable. If we lose a hockey championship games or when Guns and Roses fail to show up for a concert Vancouverites can let emotions carry the day, just like anyone else. But there isn't much evidence that we could keep up the anger for a week or more. In fact, the unrest seems to be getting stronger and more dangerous as 200 were arrested today for throwing molotov cocktails at schools, churches, and 1300 cars and worse, a gasoline bomb factory was discovered just south of the city.

No offense to the BCTF, but unrest doesn't really jive with the laidback lifestyle of the west coast. You can't have a Starbucks on every other corner and expect people to rise up. Just as you really couldn't get away with suggesting that Parisians are predisposed to get a little crazy (see also 1789, 1968, etc) but when you are there, experiencing Paris you get it. It's not that Parisians are born rioters, it is probably just a combination of the smoking, the expresso, and the attitude. If you look around the streets of Paris, you can imagine workers ready to bolt at a momments notice ready to protest, riot, or bring down the government. Quite frankly, that is the whole point of Paris - it's why writers and poets go there to write. In this case, that sort of perpetual tolerance has created a dangerous situation where there are pockets of Paris, and greater France, that are actually part of a slow growing problem in Europe. So if the "youth riotors" are not the mainstream of Paris, who are they?

"You mean Pierre and Jacques and Marcel and Alphonse? Granted that most of the "youths" are technically citizens of the French Republic, it doesn't take much time in les banlieus of Paris to discover that the rioters do not think of their primary identity as 'French''', writes the provocative and amusing Mark Steyn. "They're young men from North Africa growing ever more estranged from the broader community with each passing year and wedded ever more intensely to an assertive Muslim identity more implacable than anything you're likely to find in the Middle East. After four somnolent years, it turns out finally that there really is an explosive 'Arab street,'' but it's in Clichy-sous-Bois."

Well, that is pretty harsh, but you can read a bunch more depressing analysis pieces like that everywhere - like Ezra Levant's latest post at The Western Standard Shotgun - but that won't make you sleep any better tonight. The fact of the matter is that the City of Lights is having a really bad fall.

For Further Reading:
*This could be the only time we'll be able to do this, but linking to Austin Bay on a blog about Vancouver is quite excellent.
*Roger Simon is providing some excellent coverage via emails from the ground a sound knowledge of the city.
*UK blogger Clive Davis does some good reading of tea leaves and some excellent linking.
*The above three links were all via Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit and he has plenty more as usual.

Photo via Associated Press